I think that the sound in my prelim task wasn’t very good; the music was really loud at the beginning and the white sound from the children at the beginning makes it sound crackly and unprofessional. The sound in my final product is a lot better, the volume isn’t really loud and when dialogue is used it sounds a lot better.
The editing is a lot better in my thriller opening, I’ve used special effects to make the transitions from shots seem much smoother and more professional than in my prelim where for example the titles at the beginning could be smoothed into the live shots a lot better. by basically gaining experience and knowledge about final cut this helped us a lot with editing the main film.
The camerawork it definitely better in the thriller opening, in the prelim some is jolty and looks really unprofessional, in the thriller opening it’s a lot smoother because we developed our skills on holding the camera and looking over what the shot looks like after shooting them to see if they need to be re shot.
The main is a lot better than the prelim, it looks a lot more professional, and I think that this is because we now know our strengths within the group. I think that Melissa is really good at the camera work and shots, Saskia is good at the creative side- costumes, plots and I think that my strengths lie with the editing and sound. By knowing what we are good at in the thriller opening project we found we worked together a lot better rather than all of us crowded around the mac trying to do the same task resulting in us wasting time.
Monday, 26 April 2010
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before starting Media Studies AS I hadn’t even used a Mac before. I didn’t really know what was involved in the process of making a film, and how much planning had to take place.
Learning how to make a storyboard
I found this very interesting; there is so much detail you have to consider for example shots, transitions from each shot, dialogue, and length of shot. However I have learnt the importance of having to use storyboarding because it makes it very quick to know what shots to shoot in which order, and when editing it helps because you can see how everything goes in order. It also helped to turn ours into an animatic so we knew how long it would be and how it would look.
Here I am making the storyboard:
Using the camera and equipment
Again I hadn’t used a camera properly before media studies and I feel as though I have learnt a lot about shot types, using the tripod to create professional looking shots. I have also learnt about continuity and 180 degree rule and the importance of getting the right shot! I have also learnt about capturing the film onto the Mac.
Final Cut
Editing the film was my favourite part, it was completely new to me and I feel that I have learnt a lot! I have learnt about fitting all the shots together and special effects like the transitions in the film opening. I have learnt how to look for a cut or edit that doesn’t look right and pay attention to detail. I’ve also learnt how to export it as a movie too.
Soundtrack pro
On soundtrack pro I learnt about ‘white noise’ or atmosphere noise, because in our film there were a lot of silent parts this was a huge problem but we combated this by basically turning down the sound! I also learnt about special effect sounds and how it can change the how perspective of a film. I also learnt about how by finding the right music can change the feeling of a film completely.
Online
It’s not just the Mac and cameras that I have learnt to use, but blogger as well, I’ve learnt about how to upload posts, images, imbed YouTube clips. Another website I have learnt to use was having a YouTube account and uploading on there which I’ve never done before.
Learning how to make a storyboard
I found this very interesting; there is so much detail you have to consider for example shots, transitions from each shot, dialogue, and length of shot. However I have learnt the importance of having to use storyboarding because it makes it very quick to know what shots to shoot in which order, and when editing it helps because you can see how everything goes in order. It also helped to turn ours into an animatic so we knew how long it would be and how it would look.
Here I am making the storyboard:
Using the camera and equipment
Again I hadn’t used a camera properly before media studies and I feel as though I have learnt a lot about shot types, using the tripod to create professional looking shots. I have also learnt about continuity and 180 degree rule and the importance of getting the right shot! I have also learnt about capturing the film onto the Mac.
Final Cut
Editing the film was my favourite part, it was completely new to me and I feel that I have learnt a lot! I have learnt about fitting all the shots together and special effects like the transitions in the film opening. I have learnt how to look for a cut or edit that doesn’t look right and pay attention to detail. I’ve also learnt how to export it as a movie too.
Soundtrack pro
On soundtrack pro I learnt about ‘white noise’ or atmosphere noise, because in our film there were a lot of silent parts this was a huge problem but we combated this by basically turning down the sound! I also learnt about special effect sounds and how it can change the how perspective of a film. I also learnt about how by finding the right music can change the feeling of a film completely.
Online
It’s not just the Mac and cameras that I have learnt to use, but blogger as well, I’ve learnt about how to upload posts, images, imbed YouTube clips. Another website I have learnt to use was having a YouTube account and uploading on there which I’ve never done before.
How did you attract/ address your audience?
When researching a potential audience, I asked the question ‘what plot in a thriller most attracts you?’ after getting answers from this it helped develop a film opening and a plot that we knew was attractive to an audience. Also by getting an audience feedback on our rough cut, from people we were trying to attract our film to we knew if we were on the right track or if it didn’t attract them at all.
The Victim
The audience we are trying to attract are teenagers, so by using a young victim who is also a teenager the audience can relate to her and empathise, therefore attracting them.
Woman murderer
The challenged convention of using a blonde female killer would attract our audience because not only is it unusual but it would attract the female audience who may be able to relate to her and the male audience who are intrigued by someone who goes against the stereotypical ‘males are more powerful than women’.
Kidnapping plot
When we did conduct the questionnaire, kidnapping was a clear favourite in terms of plot preference. So when deciding shots to use we remembered the one we liked from taken. By having the shot of Imogene’s hands tied up at the beginning the audience we are trying to attract realise what is going on, intriguing them to keep on watching to see what happens next.
The Victim
The audience we are trying to attract are teenagers, so by using a young victim who is also a teenager the audience can relate to her and empathise, therefore attracting them.
Woman murderer
The challenged convention of using a blonde female killer would attract our audience because not only is it unusual but it would attract the female audience who may be able to relate to her and the male audience who are intrigued by someone who goes against the stereotypical ‘males are more powerful than women’.
Kidnapping plot
When we did conduct the questionnaire, kidnapping was a clear favourite in terms of plot preference. So when deciding shots to use we remembered the one we liked from taken. By having the shot of Imogene’s hands tied up at the beginning the audience we are trying to attract realise what is going on, intriguing them to keep on watching to see what happens next.
Who would the audience be for your media product?
This is the typical audience:
TIna:
She is 17 and lives in Birmingham. She attends the local sixth form. Her favourite films are The Sixth Sense, Hide and Seek and the Saw films. Her favourite type of music is either pop/indie. She gets her clothes from shops like New Look and Topshop and at weekends she goes to parties or has friends around her house. Films that her and her friends have seen at the cinemas this year are Paranormal Activity, Frozen and Shutter Island. Her favourite programmes are the soaps, X-factor, and skins- anything with a bit of drama in it. She has a part- time job which gives her quite a bit of money a week.
The certification that was decided for The Bloody Copycat was 15, so obviously the audience will be over that age.
When in my research and planning I was trying to find out the audience interested in our film I sent some friends and family a questionnaire, the ones that I found were in interested in the thriller genre and the films similar to ours were males, usually 16 +.
I think that Tina would be attracted to our film because the films she has seen at the cinema previously are similar to ours. Also most cinema goers are aged between 16- 24 so she fits into this age range. Because she has a part time job this means that she can afford to pay to go to the cinemas. Also she is form the same age range, occupation and gender to the victim in the film, meaning that she is more likely to relate to her.
TIna:
She is 17 and lives in Birmingham. She attends the local sixth form. Her favourite films are The Sixth Sense, Hide and Seek and the Saw films. Her favourite type of music is either pop/indie. She gets her clothes from shops like New Look and Topshop and at weekends she goes to parties or has friends around her house. Films that her and her friends have seen at the cinemas this year are Paranormal Activity, Frozen and Shutter Island. Her favourite programmes are the soaps, X-factor, and skins- anything with a bit of drama in it. She has a part- time job which gives her quite a bit of money a week.
The certification that was decided for The Bloody Copycat was 15, so obviously the audience will be over that age.
When in my research and planning I was trying to find out the audience interested in our film I sent some friends and family a questionnaire, the ones that I found were in interested in the thriller genre and the films similar to ours were males, usually 16 +.
I think that Tina would be attracted to our film because the films she has seen at the cinema previously are similar to ours. Also most cinema goers are aged between 16- 24 so she fits into this age range. Because she has a part time job this means that she can afford to pay to go to the cinemas. Also she is form the same age range, occupation and gender to the victim in the film, meaning that she is more likely to relate to her.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Firstly I thought about what films my opening film is similar to. Films that I have compared to my film a lot are:
- Monster 2003
- Saw II
- Sixth sense
I then decided to research their distribution company, who owns them, how they were distributed and their budgets.
Monster 2003
Distribution Company: Media 8
Some other films distributed by Media 8:
- Reaper 2008
- Challenger 2008
- Buried Alive 2007
- Man about town 2006
Many of the films aren’t exactly blockbusters, and some I found difficult to even find on YouTube, this highlights to me that maybe their distribution techniques aren’t as effective as other major companies or they don’t have the budget. However almost 75% of their films were a thriller which shows that they have a particular type of film they like to distribute, I think that this distribution company would like our film because it’s the same genre as other films they have distributed.
Saw II
Saw 2 was worldwide; therefore many distribution companies were used for different countries for effective distribution. I’m going to focus on the main one which is Lions gate films. Lions gate distribute mainstream films which usually end up being blockbusters, they also release a range of films from comedy’s to horrors. Examples of other films they have distributed are:
- Kick Ass 2010
- Precious
- New in Town
A lot of films that Lions Gate have distributed have been very successful but a lot aren’t British, so if they were to distribute our film in the way the American films have been distributed I don’t think that ours would be very successful, however they are very successful and the budgets for distribution would be relatively high so they may be able to reach the audience that likes our film or even distribute it more in the UK.
The sixth sense
The distribution company used for this film was Buena Vista International for the USA and UK which is owned by Walt Disney. This company distributes a range of films, from animations to horror. Majority of the films that they distribute are mainstream films that end up being blockbusters. A lot being American which are successful both here in the UK and the US.
I think that an American distribution company would choose to distribute our film; it is very similar to other thriller’s like Monster and The Sixth Sense that companies like Lion gate and Walt Disney distribute, however I think that a problem may be that it could come across too British for an American audience. It could however be distributed around Europe, resulting in large audience consumption which would result in a large profit. I think that merchandising would be a problem, not a lot of thrillers use merchandise except from maybe soundtracks and special edition DVDs.
- Monster 2003
- Saw II
- Sixth sense
I then decided to research their distribution company, who owns them, how they were distributed and their budgets.
Monster 2003
Distribution Company: Media 8
Some other films distributed by Media 8:
- Reaper 2008
- Challenger 2008
- Buried Alive 2007
- Man about town 2006
Many of the films aren’t exactly blockbusters, and some I found difficult to even find on YouTube, this highlights to me that maybe their distribution techniques aren’t as effective as other major companies or they don’t have the budget. However almost 75% of their films were a thriller which shows that they have a particular type of film they like to distribute, I think that this distribution company would like our film because it’s the same genre as other films they have distributed.
Saw II
Saw 2 was worldwide; therefore many distribution companies were used for different countries for effective distribution. I’m going to focus on the main one which is Lions gate films. Lions gate distribute mainstream films which usually end up being blockbusters, they also release a range of films from comedy’s to horrors. Examples of other films they have distributed are:
- Kick Ass 2010
- Precious
- New in Town
A lot of films that Lions Gate have distributed have been very successful but a lot aren’t British, so if they were to distribute our film in the way the American films have been distributed I don’t think that ours would be very successful, however they are very successful and the budgets for distribution would be relatively high so they may be able to reach the audience that likes our film or even distribute it more in the UK.
The sixth sense
The distribution company used for this film was Buena Vista International for the USA and UK which is owned by Walt Disney. This company distributes a range of films, from animations to horror. Majority of the films that they distribute are mainstream films that end up being blockbusters. A lot being American which are successful both here in the UK and the US.
I think that an American distribution company would choose to distribute our film; it is very similar to other thriller’s like Monster and The Sixth Sense that companies like Lion gate and Walt Disney distribute, however I think that a problem may be that it could come across too British for an American audience. It could however be distributed around Europe, resulting in large audience consumption which would result in a large profit. I think that merchandising would be a problem, not a lot of thrillers use merchandise except from maybe soundtracks and special edition DVDs.
Sunday, 25 April 2010
How does you media product represent particular social groups?
The character that I have decided to focus on is Kerri. Our original idea was to create a character that would look like the typical innocent suspect by appearance but really was the criminal. By doing this we wanted to use a white, middle class, female, with blonde hair. We thought this would be really effective and would add a twist to the film and not being a typical thriller killer. Overall I think that Kerri represents gender, age, and social class.
Gender, social class and appearance:
I have decided to compare Kerri played by Sarah to the main character in Monster played by Charlize Theron. Both characters have similarities, both are blonde and have fair skin colour, they are also both the serial killers in their films. However they both have their differences, Kerri is very feminine wearing high heels and jewellery whereas compared to the killer in Monster she is very scruffy, wearing quite male/ unisex clothing, and not very clean looking, not only does this relate to appearance but social class, it’s obvious from the film monster that she is form a very low social class, working as a prostitute and living with a friend, her scruffy appearance exaggerates this, whereas Kerri is well dressed, with nice hair showing she is from a higher status. Also there types of victims are very different; Kerri’s are young females whereas the main character in Monster’s is males who she gets her revenge on- typical when using a female killer. The basis of our film is also very different from that of monster, ours is pure fiction, whereas Monster is based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos.
Age, appearance, personality and gender:
Another character who I think Kerri would be a good comparison to is Amanda from the Saw movies. Like Kerri she is quite feminine and wears a lot of red which is symbolic of blood and death. In terms of hair colour etc they physically appear different but both characters are the same age range and their personalities are similar, Amanda is copying the techniques of killing of another character called Jigsaw, and Kerri in our film is influenced by other serial killers. However their social classes are very different, Kerri is middle class, well dressed and educated whereas Amanda has a troubled background with drug abuse suggesting a low social status.
Gender, social class and appearance:
I have decided to compare Kerri played by Sarah to the main character in Monster played by Charlize Theron. Both characters have similarities, both are blonde and have fair skin colour, they are also both the serial killers in their films. However they both have their differences, Kerri is very feminine wearing high heels and jewellery whereas compared to the killer in Monster she is very scruffy, wearing quite male/ unisex clothing, and not very clean looking, not only does this relate to appearance but social class, it’s obvious from the film monster that she is form a very low social class, working as a prostitute and living with a friend, her scruffy appearance exaggerates this, whereas Kerri is well dressed, with nice hair showing she is from a higher status. Also there types of victims are very different; Kerri’s are young females whereas the main character in Monster’s is males who she gets her revenge on- typical when using a female killer. The basis of our film is also very different from that of monster, ours is pure fiction, whereas Monster is based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos.
Age, appearance, personality and gender:
Another character who I think Kerri would be a good comparison to is Amanda from the Saw movies. Like Kerri she is quite feminine and wears a lot of red which is symbolic of blood and death. In terms of hair colour etc they physically appear different but both characters are the same age range and their personalities are similar, Amanda is copying the techniques of killing of another character called Jigsaw, and Kerri in our film is influenced by other serial killers. However their social classes are very different, Kerri is middle class, well dressed and educated whereas Amanda has a troubled background with drug abuse suggesting a low social status.
In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product is a short film opening and the chosen genre is a thriller. When making the film opening we had to consider many elements to make it look professional and realistic to the chosen genre. Many of the standard forms and conventions I used, but I also challenged some to make it appeal more interesting and different to the standard, typical thriller.
Title of the film
We decided to name our film The Bloody Copycat. The main plot of the film is a female killer who is obsessed with other killers, murders and crime, hence the ‘copycat’ because this would be her inspiration and where she would get her ideas from.
Bloody as a denotation can mean:
-of, like, or containing blood
-covered or stained with blood; bleeding
-involving bloodshed; with much killing or wounding
-bloodthirsty; cruel
-having the red colour of blood
All of these meanings really relate to thrillers, for example killings and violence, blood, cruelty- they all suggest a thriller.
We thought that this really suited the whole idea of the film; it fits in with the plot, the character and most importantly the genre and conventions of a thriller.
Title font and style
The title in our film incorporate our consistent theme, relates to the meaning of the films name and fits in with the thriller genre. The titles used in our film are red with a dripping blood effect; we decided to find some titles like this of the internet as the Mac’s at school didn’t have any with the effect we wanted.
A film that uses a similar title font and style is Saw 2. By using these types of titles we set the film up as a thriller and the blood foreshadows death and violence. The use of red is also effective because it’s a typical genre convention and the background it is on it dull colours and the red stand’s out catching the audience’s attention.
Another film that is similar to the bloody copycats titles is Dawn of the dead:
Location
The location for the opening film is a small room and where it’s exact location is set is a mystery to the audience. This therefore creates a sense of suspicion to the audience. This is a very typical convention of the thriller genre. Because the room is very small and compact and the use of close ups generate a sense of claustrophobia and anxiety which is exactly how a thriller should make the audience feel. Another film where the use of close ups and small spaces is used is in the Panic Room. As the title of the film suggests some scenes are set in a small panic room and the use of close up’s and small spaces inevitably creates a fear of panic and anxiety.
Challenged convention
When deciding the characters we thought that this would be the best area to challenge a convention. We decided to use a female killer. Normally in a thriller a typical convention is to use a male antagonist who shows there power through murdering the less powerful people. Our female killer also kills a young female which is an unusual convention is a thriller because on the rare occasion a female killer is used they are normally the feminist types getting their revenge on men. An example of a female killer in another film is monster.
Sound
The use of sound in our film is very representative of the thriller genre. It’s slow and almost from the start it highlights the thriller genre. Throughout the opening film we have music the whole way through which creates the right sense of atmosphere and fits in with the transitions of each shot in the opening. A similar film that use’s sound to create the effect of the genre and is similar to our thriller opening is sixth sense:
Costumes and props
A way to incorporate our consistent theme into our film was to use characters costumes. For Kerri she was going to wear a lot of red and black, red being symbolic of blood and black being mourning, bereavement and death. We then wanted to make Imogene’s costume opposite to Imogene’s so we decided she would wear white. This resulted in binary opposition, common in thrillers.
An example of the victim in a thriller wearing white and the killer wearing red/ black is in saw 4 when ‘Amanda’ is the female killer, we wanted Kerri to come across a lot like Amanda from the Saw films.
A prop used was the scrapbook of the victims that Kerri murdered, once again red is used to incorporate the theme of red and it is a typical thriller convention. The knife is also a very important prop; it indicates after the white transition that Imogene is dead without having to actually see the body.
Camera work and editing
At the beginning of our film one of the first shots is of the ‘Imogene’s’ hands tied up this suggests to the audience immediately that the plot is based on kidnapping, which is uncommon in thrillers to give away a plot straight away. An example of a film that uses a similar shot of the tied up hands is in Taken.
In our film:
In the opening we made the decision to use a lot of close up shots. This is so we could make the room feel even smaller and create a sense of anticipation and anxiety.
We decided the tilt/ point of view shot of Kerri was really effective because it puts the audience in Imogene’s position and also creates a sense of intimidation and fear- common in the thriller genre.
Characters
Kerri is the antagonist in our opening. We wanted to portray her as very feminine by using the high heel shoes and jewellery. Also from researching Alfred Hitchcock I found out that he used a lot of blonde characters as it is less suspicious than using brunettes who are typically used in the thriller genre. So when finding someone to play Kerri we opted for a blonde. An example from another film that uses a blonde killer is The Hand That Rocks The Cradle 1992.
Special FX
There aren’t a lot of special effects in our film because it is very uncommon to use them in the thriller genre, for example Sci-fi’s are more likely to use them. Some effects we did use were the transitions from each picture from the start of the film to the live images and the dissolve on the titles; we used these so that we could create a seemingly smooth atmosphere to lead the audience into a false sense of security. It also makes the opening film look a lot more professional.
Title of the film
We decided to name our film The Bloody Copycat. The main plot of the film is a female killer who is obsessed with other killers, murders and crime, hence the ‘copycat’ because this would be her inspiration and where she would get her ideas from.
Bloody as a denotation can mean:
-of, like, or containing blood
-covered or stained with blood; bleeding
-involving bloodshed; with much killing or wounding
-bloodthirsty; cruel
-having the red colour of blood
All of these meanings really relate to thrillers, for example killings and violence, blood, cruelty- they all suggest a thriller.
We thought that this really suited the whole idea of the film; it fits in with the plot, the character and most importantly the genre and conventions of a thriller.
Title font and style
The title in our film incorporate our consistent theme, relates to the meaning of the films name and fits in with the thriller genre. The titles used in our film are red with a dripping blood effect; we decided to find some titles like this of the internet as the Mac’s at school didn’t have any with the effect we wanted.
A film that uses a similar title font and style is Saw 2. By using these types of titles we set the film up as a thriller and the blood foreshadows death and violence. The use of red is also effective because it’s a typical genre convention and the background it is on it dull colours and the red stand’s out catching the audience’s attention.
Another film that is similar to the bloody copycats titles is Dawn of the dead:
Location
The location for the opening film is a small room and where it’s exact location is set is a mystery to the audience. This therefore creates a sense of suspicion to the audience. This is a very typical convention of the thriller genre. Because the room is very small and compact and the use of close ups generate a sense of claustrophobia and anxiety which is exactly how a thriller should make the audience feel. Another film where the use of close ups and small spaces is used is in the Panic Room. As the title of the film suggests some scenes are set in a small panic room and the use of close up’s and small spaces inevitably creates a fear of panic and anxiety.
Challenged convention
When deciding the characters we thought that this would be the best area to challenge a convention. We decided to use a female killer. Normally in a thriller a typical convention is to use a male antagonist who shows there power through murdering the less powerful people. Our female killer also kills a young female which is an unusual convention is a thriller because on the rare occasion a female killer is used they are normally the feminist types getting their revenge on men. An example of a female killer in another film is monster.
Sound
The use of sound in our film is very representative of the thriller genre. It’s slow and almost from the start it highlights the thriller genre. Throughout the opening film we have music the whole way through which creates the right sense of atmosphere and fits in with the transitions of each shot in the opening. A similar film that use’s sound to create the effect of the genre and is similar to our thriller opening is sixth sense:
Costumes and props
A way to incorporate our consistent theme into our film was to use characters costumes. For Kerri she was going to wear a lot of red and black, red being symbolic of blood and black being mourning, bereavement and death. We then wanted to make Imogene’s costume opposite to Imogene’s so we decided she would wear white. This resulted in binary opposition, common in thrillers.
An example of the victim in a thriller wearing white and the killer wearing red/ black is in saw 4 when ‘Amanda’ is the female killer, we wanted Kerri to come across a lot like Amanda from the Saw films.
A prop used was the scrapbook of the victims that Kerri murdered, once again red is used to incorporate the theme of red and it is a typical thriller convention. The knife is also a very important prop; it indicates after the white transition that Imogene is dead without having to actually see the body.
Camera work and editing
At the beginning of our film one of the first shots is of the ‘Imogene’s’ hands tied up this suggests to the audience immediately that the plot is based on kidnapping, which is uncommon in thrillers to give away a plot straight away. An example of a film that uses a similar shot of the tied up hands is in Taken.
In our film:
In the opening we made the decision to use a lot of close up shots. This is so we could make the room feel even smaller and create a sense of anticipation and anxiety.
We decided the tilt/ point of view shot of Kerri was really effective because it puts the audience in Imogene’s position and also creates a sense of intimidation and fear- common in the thriller genre.
Characters
Kerri is the antagonist in our opening. We wanted to portray her as very feminine by using the high heel shoes and jewellery. Also from researching Alfred Hitchcock I found out that he used a lot of blonde characters as it is less suspicious than using brunettes who are typically used in the thriller genre. So when finding someone to play Kerri we opted for a blonde. An example from another film that uses a blonde killer is The Hand That Rocks The Cradle 1992.
Special FX
There aren’t a lot of special effects in our film because it is very uncommon to use them in the thriller genre, for example Sci-fi’s are more likely to use them. Some effects we did use were the transitions from each picture from the start of the film to the live images and the dissolve on the titles; we used these so that we could create a seemingly smooth atmosphere to lead the audience into a false sense of security. It also makes the opening film look a lot more professional.
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